Don't wait for the Flash-iPhone war to end: InfoWorld's hands-on guide tells you how to get your websites ready for HTML5 now

There's been lots written about the politics and process of the emerging HTML5 specification (see "What to expect from HTML5" and "How HTML5 will change the Web," as just two examples), but what working Web developers primarily want to know is: What can I do with HTML5, and when can I start using it? The good news is that there's a lot you can do with HTML5. The better news is that there's a lot that you can do with HTML5 today.

But first, one major caveat: You need to know your audience, though, of course, this is true whether or not you want to start using HTML5. If the majority of your site's visitors still use Internet Explorer 6, then you have no reason to rush. On the other hand, if your site is primarily for mobile browsers on iPhones and iPads, what are you waiting for? But if your site falls somewhere in the middle -- as most do -- here are some handy guidelines to ramping up to HTML5.

Another site, The HTML5 Test, displays compatibility scores, based on the number of supported HTML5 capabilities (out of 300), for each browser (you need to visit the site in each browser you want scored). As of June 12, 2010, the scores were:

Apple Safari 5.0: 208

Google Chrome 5.03: 197

Microsoft IE7: 12

Microsoft IE8: 27

Mozilla Firefox 3.66: 139

Opera 10.6: 159

There's clearly a core of HTML5 features that all the major non-IE browsers do support, which could allow "draft HTML5" websites to be deployed to a large segment of the Web-using population.